Monster Energy Honda Team | Ricky Brabec
As the Dakar Rally enters its second week, riders gear up for the pressure. The rally managed to conclude with the first part of the Marathon stage, connecting the Ha’il bivouac to the Sakaka bivouac, which will be off-limits to mechanics and outside assistance. The day’s stage featured 471 kilometres against the clock out of a total of 737 kilometres. Upon arrival at Sakaka, riders were able to check the condition of their bikes and all reported arriving without issues.
Despite the windy and sandy conditions, it was a good day for Ricky Brabec, who put up a strong front from the start to the end of his bid. The Monster Energy Honda Team rider reached the finish line with the best time of the day to claim his second stage win so far in this Dakar. The current champion lies eighth in the overall standings, 14 minutes behind the race leader.
Teammate José Ignacio Cornejo also clocked the day with a great performance. The Chilean finished with the second quickest time of the day and, after almost 29 hours of rallying, becomes the new Dakar overall leader with a single second advantage over the nearest second-place rival.
Joan Barreda was the first rider to set off from the Ha’il bivouac this morning. The Spaniard set a solid pace which, by the end of the special stage, had served as a damage limitation exercise. The rider from Castellón conceded just nine minutes to his team-mate and eventual stage winner Brabec. Joan currently holds sixth place overall, ten minutes off the leader.
In fifth place overall, just ahead of Barreda, was Kevin Benavides, some 7’29” behind Cornejo, after finishing somewhat late on the day. However, the Argentine from the Monster Energy Honda Team will attempt to make up time and positions in the second part of the marathon stage that takes place tomorrow. In store will be a total of 375 kilometres of timed special, on a total stage of 709 kilometres, before arriving at the Neom bivouac.
Today I had a good day. I didn’t expect to win the stage but I’ll take it. I started catching Joan by refueling and he was like a 1 minute ahead. When I caught up, we opened the track together to the finish. I open the track tomorrow with my teammate Nacho who finished second today.
I’ve finished the marathon stage well. In the first part I had some problems in the sandy area that was more difficult as it was wet. From then on, I managed to find my rhythm. Before getting to the refuelling I had a problem with the tank, I lost some minutes, but I was able to sort it out. After, I went all out to try to make up for the minutes I’d dropped. I did not make any navigation errors and was able to recover. I’ve taken over the leadership in the general standings, so I am very happy. At the moment the strategy is going well, but there are many days left and the fight is very close. So we will continue to take it day by day, as we have been doing up until now.
One of my tyres is a little bit damaged, but I don’t think it’s going to be a big problem. I have been checking it all day and so far it seems to have been holding up pretty well. I hope that tomorrow will be okay for the second part of the marathon stage.
The stage today was really difficult for me. I didn’t feel comfortable on the bike today, maybe a little tired. I think rest day knocked me out of sync! But I kept a good pace until I had a navigation error at the end of the stage. I lost time but tomorrow I start back again so I will try to push to the front!